Police Unity Tour: Emotional Stories From Survivors

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Each year, hundreds or even thousands of police officers and supporters embark on the Police Unity Tour with high spirits but heavy hearts, their minds on co-workers and family members they’ve lost in the line of duty. Their slogan: “We ride for those who died.”

This year, they hold in their hearts one more fallen brother: retired New Jersey police lieutenant Joseph Franklin. Franklin died Wednesday from injuries sustained in a bike crash the first day of the 320-mile ride from Florham Park, New Jersey, to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“I didn’t know the gentleman,” said William Stuart, a police officer from Camden City, New Jersey, as he finished his fifth Police Unity Tour. “But it’s tragic. It’s surreal. I mean, what we ride for is to memorialize, and now we lost another brother.”

This is the Police Unity Tour’s 20th year. This year alone, according to organizers, it raised close to $2 million for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and affiliated museum, which is being built across the street from the memorial in downtown Washington, D.C. The ride’s other, unquantifiable goal is to raise awareness about the risks police officers face on the job.

Thousands of supporters gathered for the arrival ceremony for the 1,900 riders, who ended their four-day bike ride as National Police Week kicked off Thursday.

National Police Week is held in Washington, D.C. every year on the week that includes May 15, Peace Officers Memorial Day. The week is filled with candlelight vigils, memorial services, and fun activities like a 5K and a baseball game – all to honor officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. It’s a time when people can come together to grieve, to support each other, and to build community. The full schedule is here.

Among the supporters in the crowd Thursday were Stephen and Gerry Szczerba of Wilmington, Delaware. They lost their youngest brother, Joe, in 2011. Joe Szczerba, a sergeant (scheduled to be made lieutenant) on the New Castle County Police Department, was killed in a struggle with a man who was high on bath salts and had just broken into someone’s house. He was 44 years old.

The brothers said Szczerba had loved animals and volunteered at a shelter, capturing animals to be spayed and neutered. He kept cat food and dog biscuits in his police cruiser.

“And one time, in the course of an accident, these kids’ football got ran over,” Stephen Szczerba said. “It was a football with a bunch of duct tape on it. And he came back the next day with a brand new football and gave it to them.”

Melissa and Pete Krall of Sparks, Nevada, were in the crowd this time, but they did the ride two years ago. Melissa Krall said it was tough, but it was an incredible bonding experience, both with the other riders and with the people in the towns they rode through.

“As you came through small towns, there would be little kids with American flags, or veterans standing and saluting, or businesses with things in their windows supporting the different chapters that came through,” Melissa Krall said.

She and Pete rode in honor of Larry Don Johnson, who served on the Sparks Police Department and was killed in 1995, Pete Krall’s first year on the force. A bullet grazed the top of Johnson’s bulletproof vest and pierced his heart as he was tracking down an armed robbery suspect.

“I was brand new,” Pete Krall said, tearing up. “It affected me deeply. It made the reality of what we do very apparent.”

Two positive things came of that tragedy: The department improved firearms training for officers and created a probation and parole database so officers would know who they were dealing with. The database is called the Dangerous Offender Notification System, or DONS – named for Larry Don Johnson.

There are so many stories. One rider from Jackson Township, New Jersey, was on his 12th consecutive ride in honor of his friend Robert Ventura, who was killed in a traffic crash. Brian Pearl of the Massachusetts State Police rode for Thomas Clardy, a friend on the force who died in March during a traffic stop. William Stuart was on his fifth ride for Ippolito Gonzalez of Franklin Township, New Jersey, who was shot during a car stop. Members of Gonzalez’s family rode with him.

The riders covered 320 miles in four days, including two back-to-back century rides, covering 100 miles each the second and third days. They got soaked the third day, riding about half of those 100 miles in the rain.

And they’ll come back next year and do it all over again.